Afternoon News Bytes: April 10, 2012 | Sojourners

Afternoon News Bytes: April 10, 2012

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Food Stamps Helped Reduce Poverty Rate, Study Finds
A new study by the Agriculture Department has found that food stamps, one of the country’s largest social safety net programs, reduced the poverty rate substantially during the recent recession.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Heroic vs. Homegrown Entrepreneurs?
When we think of "social entrepreneurship", we tend to focus on the really big organizations that have had a huge impact, groups like Teach for America or Grameen that are dealing with national or global issues of poverty, inequality and justice.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Obama Candidate Sketches Vision For World Bank
Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the anthropologist and physician who is President Obama’s surprise choice to run the World Bank, does not have a detailed public record laying out his views of economic development, the bank’s central mission. He is not a development scholar nor, like previous presidents, a banker or foreign policy éminence grise.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Religion and Politics Are Inseparable: Get Over It (OPINION)
There is always a delicate balance to strike. So much is at stake, for all of us. But let us not kid ourselves, at least: religion and politics are inseparable.
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USA TODAY: Birthrate For U.S. Teens Is Lowest In History
Teen births are at their lowest level in almost 70 years, federal data report today. Birthrates for ages 15-19 in all racial and ethnic groups are lower than ever reported.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Success In A Land Known For Disasters
To many outsiders, Bangladesh is best known for its poverty and the natural disasters that hit it with depressing regularity. When it comes to the position of women, however, this country has made progress that would be unthinkable in many other Muslim societies.
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REUTERS: Anti-Poverty Group ONE Pushes For G8 Food Deal
Leaders of the world's industrial powers should commit to boost agriculture investments in poor countries and end hunger and malnutrition among the poor when they meet outside Washington in May, a group co-founded by anti-poverty campaigners and rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof said on Tuesday.
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BBC: Mali Coup Leader Rejects Possible Ecowas Intervention
Mali's coup leader has rejected the intervention of foreign troops in the rebel-held north - and hinted at his continuing role in ruling the country.
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THE ATLANTIC: Now This Is Interesting: A Climate Prediction From 1981
It is very much worth checking out an item on Real Climate, from two Dutch scientists. They have found a paper by James Hansen and others from 1981, before climate change was even an occasion for political disagreement.
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THINK PROGRESS: WaPo/ABC Poll: U.S. Public Opposes Military Action Against Iran; Supports Diplomacy And Sanctions
GOP presidential candidates and right-wing pundits are quick to push for military action against Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. But a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that the American public is largely in support of Obama’s diplomacy-first strategy towards Tehran and, by a sizable margin, opposes military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: Two Suspects Confess In Oklahoma Shootings, Police Say
Two men arrested in connection with a shooting rampage that terrorized the black community in Tulsa, Okla., over the weekend have confessed, police said Monday, and officials continued to investigate whether the crimes were racially motivated.
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